Armoza Formats & Hunan TV Enter Strategic Partnership

Armoza Formats has inked a co-development deal with the Chinese broadcaster Hunan TV, with the prime-time competition Dance Smash being the first series to emerge from the partnership.

As part of the deal, the companies worked together to launch the show, which is based on Quebecor Content and Fair-Play’s format Dance Revolution, which originally aired on Canada’s TVA. Following further development by Hunan TV, Armoza, TVA and Fair-Play, Dance Smash began airing in China this month, with a record-breaking premiere that has become the best launch for a Chinese television dance competition show in the past two years.

The first episode won the timeslot with a 5.2-percent share and achieved a remarkable 7.8-percent share with the under-23 demo. It was recently announced that a Russian adaptation of Dance Revolution has been commissioned by Channel 1.

Dance Revolution (11×90 min.) is the prime-time dance show that welcomes all dancers to compete and be judged with a 360-degree shot of their most spectacular “Revolution” moment using state-of-the-art technology. In every stage, the masters will have the help of the Revolution moments—capturing the dancers’ precise and timeless movements to make sure that they make the right decision. The dancers’ performances and the Revolution moments decide the four finalists, who will showcase their talent in the hope of winning the $100,000 grand prize.

Yann Paquet, VP of Quebecor Content, said: “Dance Revolution is a hit in Canada and we are excited about the growing international interest in this unique format, developed with our partners at Fair-Play. The success of the Chinese version testifies to the talents of Quebec’s creators and the quality of our formats.”

Lester Hu, head of formats and international business at Hunan TV, said: “We are happy to have found the right partner for this new co-development deal and that our first project from this collaboration, Dance Smash, is an absolute success on our channel. Built on the original idea, our in-house producers have worked heavily on its redevelopment to be the perfect fit for China, including a completely different approach in casting. We look forward to continuing to build our strong relationship with Armoza by co-developing new format ideas for both China and the international market.”

Avi Armoza, CEO of Armoza Formats, added: “At Armoza Formats, we strongly believe in using creative and innovative content as a way to connect viewers worldwide and believe that Dance Revolution does so in a truly unique way. We are thrilled that the Chinese adaptation Dance Smash is successfully airing, using the format’s revolutionary technology to wow the Chinese audiences, and see this as a strong start to many future collaborations with Hunan TV.”